Kevin Isfeld isn’t one to sit around the house. The 42-year-old business owner mountain bikes, back country skiis, climbs, camps — pretty much if it’s outdoors, he does it.

He’s also a traveller who has been to at least 35 countries, including India, Cambodia, the middle east. He taught English in Korea.

But a year ago, the healthy 41-year-old’s world came to a screeching halt. He suffered a grand mal seizure and was taken to Royal Inland Hospital, unconscious.

When he came to, he was hit with news that changed his life.

He had a cancerous brain tumour the size of two golf balls. Part of it was in his motor cortex, making about 10 per cent of the tumour inoperable.

The biopsy was such a bad experience — brain swelling, shingles, a follow-up medication that left him doped out for hours at a time — that isfeld chose to try chemotherapy and stay away from further surgery.

This week, he just finished his last bout of chemo and is prepping his BMW motorcycle for a trip around the world.

But for months after his cancer diagnosis, Isfeld confessed Friday, he was depressed.

“The situation put me in a bad way. I was really depressed for seven or eight months. I woke up one day and said it can’t continue.”

His brother flew the two of them to Toronto to hear motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Isfeld got motivated.

“I came back feeling I can’t lie around and do nothing. The situation isn’t going to change because I’m moping and sulking,” he said.

“Being only 42….no doctor is going to tell you how much you’ve got to live, even with the most serious situations. With my situation, they won’t tell me. But I’ve done enough research to know that I’ve got between seven and 13 years.”

And so he retired from the Speedy Cash businesses he owns, selling the shares over to his brother who also oversees some of the stores.

And he got serious about making an around-the-world trip on the big BMW overland bike he bought in 2005.

It’s a way of not just going from tourist site to tourist site, but seeing everything in between.

“It’s something I have to do for myself.”

Isfeld also decided he wanted to link up with some non-profit organizations to help out during his travels, whether it was just folding clothes and digging ditches or doing something more.

Enter Al Patel, the owner of the Scott’s Inn and founder of the Iccha/Wish Fund that raises money for Royal Inland Hospital.

Patel heard about Isfeld’s want to give back, got in touch with him, and now the two are putting on a fundraising dinner as a good-bye kickoff for Isfeld’s global travels.

The dinner is set for Nov. 6. Isfeld heads for South America on Nov. 9.

Every three months, Isfeld will have to have scans done and send them back to the cancer clinic in Kelowna. He expects he’ll have to come back for surgery.

But he’ll leave his motorcycle in storage in whatever country he’s in at the time, and return for it when he’s ready to continue.

Packed in his motorcycle bags will be a small gourd given to him by a friend who noted it was about the same size as his brain tumour, although chemo has shrunk it a bit so far.

“Everywhere I got, I’ll set up pictures of it.”

He urges other people to follow their passions and not put them off to be enjoyed down the road. Because down the road might not come.

“When you’re faced with a serious illness, you start thinking about those things you want to get accomplished in life,” he said.

“There is one thing everybody should realize in their lifetime: Don’t wait for something tragic to happen. There may not be a tomorrow. Don’t wait until something tragic happens. Just do it today.”

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A bon voyage dinner for Kevin Isfeld, who is departing Kamloops for a trip around the world, is set for Friday, Nov. 6, at the Ukrainian Hall, 725 York Ave.

The event will raise money for the Royal Inland Hospital Iccha/Wish Fund founded by Al Patel, owner of the Scott’s Inn.

The fund is gathering money to buy cardiac monitors for the surgical recovery room at RIH.

The dinner includes an East Indian buffet, live and silent auctions, door prizes and a dance.

Tickets are $50 and can be bought in advance at the RIH Foundation, 311 Columbia St. (250-31402325), Scott’s Family Restaurant, 511-11th Ave. (250-372-8221) or at Maurya’s Fine Indian Cuisine, 165 Victoria St. (250-377-4969).

Isfeld leaves Kamloops on Nov. 9, headed for his first destination, South America.

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